"From her home in Ballyhalbert, Barbara Morrow scans up to six
different camera feeds a day, waiting and watching for suspicious
activity from inside stores and on city streets more than 5,000 miles
away.

"'I just like catching shoplifters,' she says. 'I think I should have been a vigilante or something.'

"Morrow uses a service called Internet Eyes,
an online system that helps companies in Brazil thwart crime, such as
shoplifting, in their stores. Companies sign up and place their security
cameras online, and people like Morrow log in and watch — alerting the
companies if there's something they need to know about.

"The service, and Morrow, were recently featured on Codebreaker,
the podcast Marketplace produces with Business Insider, which explored
the use of surveillance cameras and how they are being used throughout
society.

"On the show, Morrow explains that she watches the feeds for activity,
and hits the a big red alert button if she sees something suspicious.
For example, she explains, one report might say, 'lady in red coat put
chocolate in her pocket.'

"Her report then goes to the store owner, who may catch the shoplifter in the act. And for her report, she gets a few bucks."'Barbara is way up there on the watcher leaderboard,' Codebreaker host Ben Johnson says, 'usually in the top three.'"

"The U.S.
intelligence community will soon disclose an estimate of the number of
Americans whose electronic communications have been caught in the
crosshairs of online surveillance programs intended for foreigners, U.S.
lawmakers said in a letter seen by Reuters on Friday.

"The
estimate, requested by members of the U.S. House of Representatives
Judiciary Committee, is expected to be made public as early as next
month, the letter said.

"Its
disclosure would come as Congress is expected to begin debate in the
coming months over whether to reauthorize or reform the so-called
surveillance authority, known as Section 702, a provision that was added
to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in 2008.

"'The
timely production of this information is incredibly important to
informed debate on Section 702 in the next Congress— and, without it,
even those of us inclined to support reauthorization would have reason
for concern,' said the letter signed by 11 lawmakers, all members of the
House Judiciary Committee.

"The
letter was sent on Friday to National Intelligence Director James
Clapper. It said his office and National Security Agency (NSA) officials
had already briefed congressional staff about how the intelligence
community intends to comply with the disclosure request."

From the 1-9-17 edition of The Hill comes this article entitled "Intel Agencies Ask Americans to 'Trust, Don't Verify' in New Cold War" by Mark Weisbrot:"Just as the first casualty of war is said to be the truth, the first
casualty of the new Cold War is irony. Our most prominent journalists
seem to have missed the Orwellian irony of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) asking Director
of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper at Friday's Senate
hearings if Julian Assange has any credibility. Assange has maintained
that the hacked or leaked emails of Democratic Party officials did not
come from the Russian government, or any other government.

"As is well-known, Clapper lied to
Congress about a serious violation of the constitutional rights of tens
of millions of Americans. This lie is a crime for which he actually
could have been prosecuted. In March 2013, Clapper falsely answered, 'No, sir' to the question, 'Does the NSA [National Security
Association] collect any type of data at all on millions, or hundreds of
millions of Americans?'

"He later admitted that his answer was untrue.

"Clapper
lied again in Friday’s testimony, saying that Assange was 'under
indictment' for 'a sexual crime.' In fact, Assange has not been indicted
for anything, and the government of Sweden has never even charged him
with a crime. (He was initially questioned by Swedish police but allowed
to leave the country.)

"In reality, he is a political prisoner, and the United Nations Working Group on arbitrary detention has found that he has been arbitrarily detained since 2010 by the United Kingdom and Sweden, and ordered his release and compensation."

"Police have arrested a brother-and-sister team suspected
of conducting an ambitious, years-long campaign of hacking that targeted
thousands of accounts belonging to some of the leading political and
business figures in Italy.

"The motive of the sprawling campaign, which carried Masonic
overtones, remains a mystery. But those in the crosshairs included
Matteo Renzi when he was Italian premier, European Central Bank chief
Mario Draghi and much of the cream of Italy's elite.

"'In the eight months we have been investigating, we haven't
registered any evidence of extortion activity, or attempts to (use
hacked data) to obtain influence,' Roberto Di Legami, who directs the
Italian national police division that specializes in combatting internet
and other communications network crimes, told The Associated Press in a
telephone interview Tuesday.

"Police said Tuesday that it was an assist from the FBI that helped
cracked the 'cyberespionage headquarters' and led to Monday's arrests of
Giulio Occhionero, 45, and his 49-year-old sister Francesca Maria
Occhionero. They are being kept in isolation in two different jails in
Rome, police said.

"The two live in the Italian capital, where they are reportedly well
known in the world of high finance. They also have a legal residence in
London, where at one point they registered a securities company, Di
Legami said.

"Prosecutors' requests for the arrest warrants alleged that the duo
tried to hack into Renzi's personal email twice in June, when he was
still premier, and into Draghi's email account once in June and again in
July.

"A person familiar with the matter said there was no indication any
European Central Bank account was successfully breached. The person
spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the
matter.

"Italian police were generous with praise for the FBI's help. Di
Legami said the FBI found the servers despite the suspect's use of the
online anonymity tool Tor to mask their electronic movements.

"The FBI did not return a message seeking comment on the nature of its
assistance, confirming only that it had helped with the investigation
through the U.S. Embassy in Rome.

"All but one of the servers the Occhioneros allegedly used in their
scheme were located in the United States, Di Legami said. He added that,
until the Americans hand the servers to Italian investigators, it will
not be known if any of the hacking attempts succeeded and if so, what
data might have been extracted from the targeted accounts.

"Police said investigators would be analyzing 'an enormous mound of sequestered material' in the United States.

"The motive for the hacks was unclear, although lines of code in the
software — including the English-language string 'Pyramid Eye' — suggest
a Masonic connection.

"Giulio Occhionero was a high-ranking member of a Masonic lodge, Di Legami said.

"An email sent to Giulio Occhionero's personal address was not
immediately returned; a LinkedIn message left with Francesca Maria's
account also was not returned.

"Other prominent Italians whose accounts allegedly were targeted
include Fabrizio Saccomanni, a former Italian economy minister who also
served as a top official of Italy's central bank; a Catholic cardinal
holding Vatican posts; Mario Monti, an economist who wrestled with
Italy's financial crisis as premier from 2011 to 2013; former top
officials of the Italian tax police squad; and Italian politicians from
across the political spectrum.

"Politicians expressed relief that a cyber-spy operation had been unmasked and demanded investigators get to the bottom of it.

"'Everything must be rapidly cleared up,
avoiding news leaks,' Debora
Serracchiani, a top official with Renzi's Democratic Party, said.
'Certainly, a criminal plan has been uncovered upon which many
hypotheses can be made.'

"The alleged hacking operation came to light as Italian politics
already are roiled over Renzi's stepping down as premier last month
after a referendum defeat and maneuvering ahead of likely early
elections that could come this year.

"Ignazio La Russa, a right-wing lawmaker who was among the
cyber-spies' targets, was quoted by the Italian news agency ANSA as
saying that he did not feel anguished about information of his that may
have been taken."'A member of Parliament must be transparent. If they asked me, I would have given them the info gratis,' La Russa said.

"La Russa added: 'I'd be sorry however, if they spied on my private life, entering in the accounts of my wife or children.'

"Giulio Occhionero co-founded a boutique Roman investment firm named
Westlands Securities SpA, according to his LinkedIn profile and a former
employee of the company who didn't want to be identified in connection
with the investigation.

"Di Legami said investigators think the firm might have been set up
largely as a cover for criminal activities, although they found evidence
Westland Securities provided legitimate financial advising, including
for construction at a southern Italian port, and also had some dealings
in stocks and bonds.

"Giulio Occhionero was the main force in the duo, drawing on his
background as an engineer -- he has a degree in nuclear engineering --
as well as formidable talent as a quantitative analyst, the police
official said.

"Di Legami said the investigators' big break came when a security
manager at a government office dealing with computer security received
an email from a law office he didn't recognize.

"Alarmed, the manager asked a security firm to trace the IP address.
When the IP address didn't match the one used by the law office, police
investigators picked up the trail.

"Di Legami said the hackers used sophisticated and complex malware and
were able to access their victims' networks for long periods of time,
remotely harvesting emails, communications and other documents from
targeted computers.

"The suspects created numerous folders to divide up their targets.
Among the more creatively named ones was a folder dubbed 'Bros' that
included persons who supposedly belong to a Masonic lodge and another
folder dubbed POBU — for politicians and business — in which various
individuals from high-level politics and business were listed.

"Investigators moved to have the suspects arrested because of the 'concrete danger' they could flee abroad, police said."

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About Me

I'm the author of CRYPTOSCATOLOGY: CONSPIRACY THEORY AS ART FORM (TrineDay, 2012) as well as SPIES & SAUCERS, a collection of three novellas (available from PS Publishing at: http://www.pspublishing.co.uk/spies-and-saucers-jhc-robert-guffey-2158-p.asp), and CHAMELEO: A STRANGE BUT TRUE STORY OF INVISIBLE SPIES, HEROIN ADDICTION, AND HOMELAND SECURITY (available from OR Books at: http://www.orbooks.com/catalog/chameleo/). My most recent book is UNTIL THE LAST DOG DIES (available from Night Shade Books at: http://www.nightshadebooks.com/book/until-the-last-dog-dies/#.Wf-RnIhrzcs). If you would like to buy a signed copy of CRYPTOSCATOLOGY, simply click on the button below.